After hesitating, I reached out my hand. I didn’t have the confidence to use my mouth.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it would all fit in my mouth.
It felt like it would tear if I tried.
Lucas caught my hands to stop me and pushed me down onto the bed.
He didn’t even push with force.
He pushed me down as smoothly as flowing water, then hugged me from behind and wouldn’t let go.
“Lucas?”
“Please sleep. I will let you go once you fall asleep.”
“If you disliked it, you could have just said so. You don’t have to hold onto me like this… ah.”
Lucas bit my neck again.
Then, he slowly licked the bitten spot with his tongue.
He was like a puppy reflecting on its mistake.
What was the point of that, though?
He was the one who bit me.
“Do you have no intention of resolving things through conversation?”
“Since I am a knight by nature, using my body is more comfortable for me.”
Was that why he was good at everything involving the body?
Even this kind of thing… I shoved the thought far away.
My member was on the verge of growing large again.
“What is the matter?”
“…Nothing.”
I tried to sleep, but I was far too conscious of his body pressed against my back.
Especially since the part touching my buttocks was that spot, sleep eluded me even more.
“Why do you keep twitching? Was it not enough?”
“No. Not at all.”
I spoke with a straight face. He buried his face in the nape of my neck and let out a small laugh.
“You really are terrible at lying.”
“Don’t tease me.”
“You may speak comfortably to me, you know.”
“How much more comfortably am I supposed to speak?”
“You speak more comfortably to those close to you.”
“…Are you talking to me like this to tell me to sleep, or not to sleep?”
I simply wanted to keep my distance from Lucas.
He was a person who would leave in a year.
I didn’t want to speak comfortably to him, nor did I want to consider him close.
“Or would you like to try calling me ‘Hyung’? I am older than you, Master.”
“Even if I don’t call you ‘Hyung’, anyone can see that’s the case.”
Lucas dug his head into my back.
He expressed his dissatisfaction with his body, too.
The spot he hit felt tingly.
I was supposed to scold him, but truth be told, I didn’t even have the heart to scold him, so I ended up just nagging.
“Call me ‘Count’. Even if you don’t repeatedly call me ‘Master’, I am well aware that you are mine.”
Lucas suddenly fell quiet. I wondered if his feelings were hurt because I nagged him.
It felt like I should soothe him, but thanks to his warm body temperature, drowsiness washed over me.
Unable to fight the cascading sleepiness, I had no choice but to close my eyes.
I would have to do the soothing tomorrow.
By the way, was Lucas’s body originally this hot?
Morning arrived.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself sleeping comfortably alone today.
Wondering if Lucas had gone to his own room, I looked to my side, only to see him sleeping with his back turned toward me.
His back was covered in dark, black-and-blue bruises.
“…….”
He must have gone straight to his room right after our sparring session ended, so I couldn’t fathom when he had been hurt like this.
A servant spoke from outside the door.
“Are you awake, My Lord?”
Lucas did not wake up, even at the sound of the voice. He looked so peaceful sleeping soundly.
Not wanting to wake him, I carefully slid out of bed, went to the door, and opened it.
“Count.”
“Lucas is still asleep. I will have you attend to me in another room,” I said in a lowered voice.
The servant looked surprised for a moment but quickly bowed his head.
“I will prepare the adjacent room. Shall I bring something to cover your neck?”
“Ah.”
For the servant to bring it up first meant the marks left behind must be quite severe.
“Yes. And please prepare some ointment for bruises as well.”
“Are you injured, My Lord?”
“Not me. Lucas is hurt.”
“Understood.”
“Make sure to prepare plenty of it.”
After all, it felt like there would be many more days ahead where bruises would be made.
A week had passed since then.
On the day I discovered the bruises on his back, I quietly called Tayros to my office and told him to keep a close eye on things so the knights wouldn’t mistreat Lucas.
Still, I couldn’t shake my anxiety, so over the past week, I spent my spare moments heading down to the training grounds to watch Lucas help with the drills.
No one was actively mistreating him.
If that was the case, he should have been perfectly fine, yet the bruises on his body only multiplied.
His back was so mottled with red and purple patches that it seemed harder to find his original skin color.
“May I put my clothes back on now?”
Lucas was thoroughly upset because I had forced his clothes off to inspect his body.
Of course, I was angry too.
I had told him to speak up if anyone was bullying him, but instead of saying a word or even trying to run away, he had just stood there and taken the beatings in full.
I wanted to scold him and ask why he hadn’t said anything, but I held it back.
The person who got hit was bound to be in more pain than me, after all.
“Did you apply the medicine?”
“…No.”
I figured as much.
I pulled the ointment out from the drawer.
Lucas looked startled when I brought it out, as if he hadn’t expected me to anticipate this.
“Since you don’t listen, I figured you wouldn’t bother applying the medicine I gave you either.”
If you can live comfortably, isn’t it more beneficial to just listen and live at ease?
I couldn’t understand why he was being so stubborn.
I scooped up a generous amount of ointment with my fingers and slathered it over his bruised skin.
Lucas flinched the moment the medicine touched him.
Because I kept applying it without saying a word, Lucas was the first to break the silence.
“Um……”
“Yes. Go ahead and speak.”
“It’s not that I didn’t apply it. It’s just that… I couldn’t reach my back……”
Then he should have asked someone else to apply it for him.
My heart ached.
Because this place was so unfamiliar to him, it seemed Lucas felt he had no one he could comfortably ask for such a favor.
“Then ask me to apply it for you.”
“I am sorry.”
“Forget it. It’s not like you did anything wrong. Just give me the names of the people who made you like this.”
I intended to call them in and interrogate them myself.
It was highly likely the knights were bullying him.
If the Knight Commander and even I personally reprimanded them, they wouldn’t dare mistreat him further.
However, Lucas shut his mouth again and refused to speak.
Unable to hold back, I shouted.
“Why again? Why!”
“I will handle it on my own.”
Who could it be??